


Taking Flight

by Oracle507



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has PTSD, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Needs a Hug, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is a Good Friend, Developing Friendships, Female Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Female Deceit | Janus Sanders, Flashbacks, Gen, Genderbending, Genderfluid Logic | Logan Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, I'm very happy that's a tag, Panic Attacks, Social Anxiety, Winged Anxiety | Virgil Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27730171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oracle507/pseuds/Oracle507
Summary: A fight in the woods takes a bad turn for Roman and Vira.The second part of my DnD AU. I don't think it's necessary to have read the first part but it sets up the characters way better than this one does.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859785
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Taking Flight

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Panic attacks, guilt, social anxiety.  
> This is for the Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt Supernatural Fear Inducer.  
> Here are the basics for each character:  
> Logan- Genderfluid (they/them or she/her) Half-Elf Wizard named Lorian Salmaris  
> Virgil- Female (she/her) Aasimar Paladin named Vira Enatsu.  
> Patton- Male (he/him) Firbolg Cleric named Patton Heilen  
> Janus- Female (she/her) Changeling Ranger named Janus Zemiya.  
> Roman- Male (he/him) Tiefling Bard named Roman Rieta  
> Remus- Male (he/him) Tiefling Sorcerer named Remus Rieta

The group’s journey to Matrulle was going better than expected. He and Vira had escorted people in need before, but they were never quite as flashy as their current companions. Still, any chaos caused by the twin tieflings was more than made up for by Janus’s assistance in traversing the forest they were currently making their way through. Despite her not initially being on board with traveling with them, she worked her butt of clearing the path for everyone and scouting ahead. Patton appreciated that.

When it was time to sleep, Janus found everyone a nice clearing where they could see the stars. They’d all figured out their nightly tasks by this point. Janus quickly started a fire for everyone before her and Vira each took a side of their site to look out for any sort of danger. Patton cooked everyone a small meal as Roman and Remus set up their beds and Lorian casted an alarm spell. As they ate, they would discuss their watch shifts for the night. Tonight they decided Patton and Vira would go first, followed by Janus and Lorian, and finally the twins.

The two Servants of Ikos sat side by side on a log near the group. Patton stared at the others. “I think we should start doing different watch groups. We should try to get to know each other more.”

Vira tenses. “It’s not gonna be that long until we’re home. No need to… risk things.”

“Well, whatever you think.” Though they weren’t due home for another couple months, the decision to return to the temple of Matrulle had been an easy one. The twins were in need of a place where Remus could train more comfortably. Even more importantly were Janus’s claims about the government ordering people to arrest all Changeling. How could Patton not immediately report that? How could the Temple not already know and be working to stop this?

Vira clinched when a bird took off from a tree. “Sorry…” She muttered.

“No need, kiddo.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “How’s your anxiety been? I know suddenly adding four people to the group is a big thing.”

“I’m calm enough that I don’t think I’ll be having a freakout or whatever.”

He frowned. “First of all, they are not freakouts. They are panic attacks with… some extra bits. Second, I wasn’t asking about that, silly. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.” She sighed. Her fingers began drumming against her leg. “Even if something does happen and you get scared, I won’t let them do anything to you.”

Vira smiled and gestured towards her sword, which was currently leaning against the log next to her. “I’m not defenseless like I used to be.”

“I know.” He playfully booped her on the nose. “But it’s good to know you have allies sometimes.

* * *

Remus sat down next to Roman as they started their watch. “I hate last watch,” Roman said. “How am I supposed to be at my best when I just spent hours staring at nothing?”

“Better than when we just had to take turns. That was sooooo boring.” Remus poked Roman’s left horn. “At least now I can talk to someone.”

“You can talk all you want. Traveling with them has made it impossible to work on my music.” Roman pulled out his guitar.”

Remus pouted. “Yeah. Janus is such a buzzkill. She’s all like ‘Don’t be too loud, Remus’ and ‘No, I won’t turn into a purple dragonborn with buckteeth and a huge dick, Remus’.”

“I see what you mean,” Roman played a few warm-up cords, “but asking a changeling to shift all the time is probably rude to them. Vira’s much worse than her if you ask me.”

“What? But she’s so big and cool!” He looked over at her huge sword and resisted the urge to go play with it… barely.

“Yeah, but she’s so quiet. Lorian is too, but that’s just how most elves are. Humans are normally way more fun but she never says anything. When she does talk to me, it's always rude. What’s she even doing escorting people if she’s just going to be mean to people like that?”

Remus shrugged. “Well, she is still escorting us. None of them are all that fun, but who cares? I haven’t felt this safe in a while.”

Roman sighed. “You’re probably right.”

Roman played his music softly for most of their watch. It almost stopped Remus from hearing the sound of a twig snapping about half an hour before they should have woken the others.. He elbowed Roman before running over to Patton and tapping his shoulder. Roman, hearing the sound now, joined him in waking the rest. Lorian woke up on their own, likely due to the alarm spell going off in their head.

The group was barely alert with weapons ready when a group of bandits showed themselves. The eight of them sported a variety of weapons, bows and arrows, knives, a staff. “Alright, let’s make this-”

Vira, who had slept in her armor, stepped forward. She pointed her sword towards the one talking. “We are Servants of Ikos escorting our charges. We don’t have much of worth anyway, so it is in your best interest to leave us alone.” Remus had to resist the urge to cheer her on. While she was normally quiet and a bit of buzzkill, she knew when and how to take charge. Plus, that sword was really cool.

The leader(?) laughed. “I don’t care who you serve. As you can see, you’re outnumbered.” Remus counted them and,yep, he had eight to their six. The leader gestured for his followers to attack. One of them loaded their bow as the ones with melee weapons charged.

Remus closed his eyes and envisioned a green ball in front of himself. He opened them and summoned a Chromatic Orb, shooting it at the bow and arrow guy. Eyes wide, the guy dropped his arrow and ran. Another bandit froze in fright. Remus smirked at her. “Scared?”

A blueish white light filled the area. Remus instinctively turned around and saw Lorian shooting a beam into the sky. A couple more of the bandits halted their attack. Likely looking to make the most out of this momentary peace, Patton stepped towards the leader. “We don’t want to fight anyone. We-”

The leader summoned a red flame in his hand and shot it at the Firbolg. Vira pulled Patton out of the way just in time and stopped another bandit’s sword with her own. “Attack, goddamn it!” The leader said.

As he thought about his next spell, Remus saw Roman strum his guitar. The bandit running towards him abruptly fell on the ground laughing. “Nice!” Remus cheered. 

“Two can play that game,” the leader said. He fired his own spell at Roman. Before Remus could do anything, his brother’s expression morphed into one of pure terror. He went to run from the battle but tripped over something.

As the leader moved in Roman’s direction, Remus forgot the rest of the battle and charged. ‘I need to help him. Roman’s scared. He needs me. He needs-” A sharp pain erupted in his back. A rough arm wrapped around his torso and the one grabbing him screamed, “I got one!”

“No!” Remus tried to fight out of his grasp but every movement only made his back burn and vision blur.” “Roman!”

* * *

“Roman!” someone yelled. Vira always struggled to differentiate voices during battle, but no matter who that was it was clear someone was in trouble. ‘Do your job, Vira. You’re strong now.’ She turned to see the leader of these bandits standing over a petrified Roman as he desperately tried to back away. She ran in that direction. As she did so, a strong force hit her, knocking her to the ground. A human woman stood over her with a knife. ‘I can take her easily. I’ve had years of training. I-’

_ “Beast!” a man yelled. Vira ran as fast as she could, but it wasn’t fast enough. A man tripped her and she fell. The crowd swarmed in. ‘Please. Please stop.’ _

“Stop!” Vira felt a familiar surge of energy throughout her body. For the first time in months, her wings spread free in this plain. A series of gasps followed her transformation. She struggled to control her breathing. ‘Not now. Everyone is staring. Everyone knows.’

She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly. She drowned out the chaos, drowned out her panic, and focused on her last goal: Roman. She used her wings to jump high and far, landing on the leader’s head. The impact was enough to knock him unconscious. She dropped the sword to pick up the still-terrified Roman and flew him into the air. ‘Air. Air is safe.’

Her mission completed, other senses came back to her. She saw the rest of the bandits run away. “Hey! What are you doing!? Come back down!”

_ “Don’t let her get away! We almost had her!” _

‘No, no! Please stop!’ She closed her eyes and lost control of her breathing entirely. There was more yelling. Always more yelling.

* * *

Roman came back to reality gasping for breath. He’d been so scared and he didn’t even remember why. It was gone but the residual fear still left his muscles tense and chest aching. “Hey! Put him down! Roman!” someone screamed. ‘Remus. Why is he?’ His senses came back as he gained control over his breathing. Someone was squeezing him tightly.

He used all of his strength to push out of their grasp and found himself falling. ‘What?’ Before his panic could return, his fall slowed. He had time to see a being with grey wings fly into the trees before his feet gently landed on the ground. “Roman!” Remus wasted no time before pulling him into a hug. “You’re okay! The guy hit you with a spell and you got all scared. I tried to help but one of the other guys got me. Then-”

“Wait, you’re hurt?” ‘Goddamn it, Roman. My first battle with these people and I’m completely useless. Ridiculous. Now Remus is hurt, too?’

“No. Well, I was, but Pat healed me.”

“Oh, good!” He scanned the group to find Patton and thank him. The firbolg had separated himself from the group, staring up at one of the trees. 

“Vira! You’re alright. You need to come down. Everything’s fine.” Roman followed his gaze and realized that the grey-winged being had been Vira. She now sat curled up on a high branch in the tree.

“What is she?” Remus asked.

Janus walked over to them and grabbed Remus’s arm. She pulled him to the other side of the clearing where Lorian was packing up their supplies. Roman chased after them. “Sure, let’s just start screaming questions at a person who’s having a panic attack. What a wonderful idea,” Janus said, glaring at Remus.

“She’s the one that just dragged me 50 feet into the air.” Roman said.

Janus rolled her eyes. “She was saving you. That man was about to fire blast your face when she swooped in.” ‘She… what?’

“I mean, I didn’t see that part, but she did land on the guy's head,” Remus said, pointing at his unconscious body. “She picked you up right after that.”

“Based on what she’s doing now,” Lorian said, “I assumed she associates being high with safety.”

“Well, it does help you calm down.” Lorian glared at him. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“What I was trying to say was, she was panicking and focused all her energy on protecting you. People don’t always think clearly while in a state of panic. It was, to put in mildly, unwise to fly you up in the air like that, but I highly doubt it was malicious.”

“Okay,” Roman said. ‘I’ll have to thank her for that later.’ “But where did the wings come from?”

“I assume she’s an aasimar, though I admit I know very little about them.”

“Same goes for me,” Janus said.

Roman heard a flutter of wings behind him and turned to see Vira back on the ground next to Patton. He pulled her into a hug.

“Come on.” Janus knelt down to help Lorian with packing. “We should keep moving in case they come back. I don’t know how long Vira’s trick will scare them off.”

Roman and Remus joined them in prepping for travel. Patton and Vira eventually joined them, Vira’s expression as bored as ever. Her wings were nowhere to be seen. Everyone collectively decided not to comment on that until Vira was ready to share. Patton left a healing potion by the unconscious leader (of course) before they took off.

Vira and Janus took the front of the group. Roman let himself fall back, lost in his thoughts. ‘What happened back there? I was a complete coward. What if Remus had gotten hurt worse? We’re supposed to protect each other. How can we do that if I’m that easily taken down?’

“Roman? Are you alright?” Lorian asked. The rest of the group stopped. “I realize now that in the commotion we failed to stop to heal you.” Roman frowned. ‘Sure, my ankle hurts a little and I got a couple of bruises from falling, but that’s nothing. It’s what I get for trying to desert like that.’

“Oh no!” Patton ran over to him and put a hand on his head. It glowed and the pain disappeared from Roman’s back and ankle. “Sorry, kiddo. I got distracted, but that’s not an excuse. Make sure you tell me next time, okay?”

“Um… Sure. Thank you.”

The group continued on. Roman still did his best to stay in the back, but Remus eventually moved to walk beside him. “It wasn’t your fault. That guy hit you with a spell.”

“So? It should’ve taken more than one spell for me to leave you to get hurt.”

“That’s not accurate,” Lorian pointed out. “The Fear spell is quite powerful for the skill level required. When hit, one cannot help but run away. It would have honestly been a miracle if you had not done so.”

“Yeah!” Remus said. “Plus, you used your cool laughing spell. That took a guy out until Vira scared him out of it, then everyone ran.”

Roman smiled, feeling slightly better about that morning’s events. “Thank you.”

About an hour later, Janus stopped the group in a clearing safe enough for the group to have a quick breakfast. Roman hadn’t even realized how hungry he was until Patton started unpacking some of their food. He passed some meal bars around for everyone.

“So, what’s up with your wings?” Remus asked. Vira paused mid-bite and went pale. Well, more pale than usual.

“Wonderful timing, Remus,” Janus said. “Everyone knows it’s best to bring up sensitive subjects before the person has shown any sign that they’re ready to talk about it. It makes sure they’re especially uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s… fine.” Vira sighed. “I’m an aasimar. I can summon these wings sometimes. It’s not really a big deal.”

“Can you summon them right now?” Remus asked.

“I can, but no. You’ll probably only see them when I'm freaking out like I did earlier. Then my aasimar form makes me freak out more and.. Whatever, you get it.”

“Yes, thank you for clarifying,” Lorian said.

“Why do your wings freak you out?” Roman asked.

Vira took another bite of her breakfast, not making eye contact. “That’s not something you need to know about.”

“Okay…” He looked over at Patton, who shook his head and mouthed ‘Not a good story.’ Roman nodded. “Well, I don’t have any problem with it.”

“Good!” Patton smiled. “Now we should finish up quick and get out of here. We can probably get out of the forest today if we’re fast enough.”

They ate the rest of their mini-meal before taking off once more. “Wait, Vira,” Roman said. She stopped and turned to look at him. “Can you hang back with me? I wanna talk to you.” She glanced nervously at Patton, who nodded encouragingly, before doing so. They walked slowly until there was a large enough gap that they wouldn’t have to worry about the others listening in. “Thank you for saving me back there. I know you were scared, and I wasn’t exactly doing much for the group, so… thanks.”

She nodded but kept her eyes on the trees. ‘Is she always this alert? Sounds tiring.’ “I was doing my duty. There is no need to thank me for that.” She said things like that a lot in this flat, apathetic tone. He thought it was just more of her being rude, but it was different than her normal eye-rolling, sarcastic rude. Now it just sounded like she had already written out a script in her head. If someone thanks me, say this. If someone won’t let Patton do his job, say that.

“It’s still cool that you go around helping people. Remus and I have been together for a while and you’re the first people to actually offer us help.”

She shook her head. “I’m… It’s still just me, you know, doing my job. You don’t… You know what I mean. Don’t worry about it.” She started drumming her fingers on her leg and staring at Patton as if mentally begging him for help.

‘Ugh, I’m such an idiot. She’s not mean, she’s shy! Wow, I’m such an asshole.’ “Right, I do, but people thank people for doing their job all the time, and you did yours while having a panic attack. That’s cool.”

She glanced at the guitar that was hanging over his back. “Don’t bards have a saying, the show keeps going or something like that? Same thing here. I don’t get to stop just because I'm freaking out.”

“If I get to thank my waiters for bringing me my soup, I get to thank you for saving my life.”

She sighed. “We should catch up. I don’t want to get too far behind.” She started jogging towards the front of the group where Janus was.

Roman caught up enough to stand next to Remus. “How’d it go?”

“Fine, but she wouldn’t even let me thank her. She was all ‘I was doing my job, don’t thank me, ahhhh.’”

“Still think she’s rude, then?”

He looked over at her. Patton gave her a quick side hug before turning to give Roman a quick thumbs up. “No, not anymore.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm always looking to improve, so feel free to leave your criticisms/questions in the comments or message me on my Tumblr. You can also ask me anything regarding the characters in this AU (ages, more about their appearances, things like that). Link to Tumblr: https://nerdywriterhaven.tumblr.com/  
> I really hope you enjoyed this. I completely forgot to mention that the the deities in this world, such as Ikos, all come from the pantheon I'm building for an original project of mine. I don't know if anyone actually cares about that fact, but I still want to have that out there in case someone cares.


End file.
